Package



g- 3, 1965 R. WATTS, JR 3,198,681

PACKAGE Filed April 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

/P/DLV M1775 12.

A TTORNEYS.

United States Patent M 3,198,631 PACKAGE Ridley Watts, In, Cleveland,Ohio, assignor to The American Packaging Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio,:1 corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 18, 1961, Ser. No. 103,937 7 Claims.(Ci. 156-196) This invention pertains to packaging articles and moreparticularly to a display package and a method of making such a package.

In present day merchandising, many articles are packaged in separateunits. Retail products are often packaged in separate units in order toshow the products attractively against a display background, which cancontain art-work, illustrations of use, trademark, and price. Packagesfor separate units facilitate self service sales, serve as protection inshipment and deter pilferage.

In packages which accomplish this type of display, each unit of articlesto be sold is mounted on an individual display card. This unit iscovered with a transparent plastic material which fixes it to thedisplay card. A number of types of packages have been devel oped whichfall in this general class of display package. Presently the two mostpopular types are known as skin packaging and bubble packaging(sometimes referred to as blister packaging). type falling within thisgeneral class.

In bubble packaging a cup, contoured to the shape of the product, ismolded from relatively heavy plastic film. This cup, known as a bubbleor blister, provides a cavity of sufficient size to receive the productto be displayed. The bubble is formed with a peripheral flange so thatit can be attached to a display card, either by heat scaling to the faceof an adhesive treated card or by being held within a folding cardcontaining an aperture which permits the bubble to protrude from theface of the card while gripping it by its flange.

Bubble packaging is costly for several reasons. One of these is that arather high-grade and heavy gauge transparent plastic material isrequired because the bubble must be relatively rigid. Another reason isthat bubbles are bulky and, thus, expensive to ship and store because ofthe excessive space required. In addition, the processing of packaging aproduct in a bubble package is relatively slow and time-consuming.

The more recently developed skin packaging is more economical thanbubble packaging for many products but it, too, has certain inherentdrawbacks. With the most common form of skin packaging, an adhesive isapplied to the front of a card. The adhesive, after it has dried, isperforated. The article to be packaged is then positioned on the card. Aheat softened plastic film is then vacuum drawn down over the articleand onto the card to simultaneously form a protective covering over thearticle and bond the plastic sheet to the face of the display card.

Since, in skin packaging, the heat softened film is drawn down over thearticle itself, an article which has sharp corners, projections, orundercuts will cause the film to puncture. For this reason, it is onlypossible to skin package relatively smoothly contoured products. Anotherdisadvantage of skin packaging is that a rather substantial amount ofprocessing equipment is required. A manufacturer wishing to skin packagehis product must either make an inordinant investment in packagingequipment or he must ship his products to a custom packager. Thus, theproduct manufactureris faced with the rather distasteful choice ofselecting either the expense of putting in packaging equipment or theexpense of shipping his product to a custom packager.

Shrink packages are another 3,198,681 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 Skinpackaging is also a diflicult operation. Slight variations intemperature, humidity, porosity of board, oven heat and film can causepackage failures. Many manufacturers have abandoned skin packaging orrefused to use it because of the difliculty of making dependablepackages.

Shrink packaging is accomplished by stretching a plastic film while hot,and soft, to form a relatively large cavity to accommodate an article.After the article has been positioned in the cavity the film is heatedto shrink it into tight abutment with the product. Cost, suscep tibilityto puncturing, and the complexity of manufacturing, loading, andassembly are all drawbacks which limit the use of shrink packages.

The products which can be packaged with skin and shrink packages arelimited because the product is contacted, in each case, by the film whenit is hot and soft. The product must, then be a composition which willnot be bonded to the film under these conditions. For example, attemptshave been made to manufacture skin packages with polyethylene film. Theuse of polyethylene films has been limited because of its highlyadhesive characteristics. Many products cannot be skin packaged withpolyethylene because the polyethylene would become bonded to the productitself. There are other reasons why these attempts to use polyetheylenehave never been fully satisfactory. One is that polyethylene tends tocause the display board to curl. Another is that polyethylene film isrelatively highly susceptible to tearing when heat softened and drawnover a product.

The present invention provides a new package in which the advantages ofskin, bubble, and shrink packaging are incorporated into a singlepackage. In addition, several very positive and additional advantagesnot provided in any prior package are obtained. With this invention thesimplicity and economies even greater than those of skin packaging areobtained. As in bubble packaging, the product manufacturer can packagehis own merchandise without first making a substantial investment inpackaging equipment. In addition, a package of superior appearance isobtained.

With the package of this invention a card is cut to provide an apertureof the contour of all or part of an object to be packaged. In thepreferred form this cut or slit does not circumscribe the aperture, butrather leaves the severed portion of the card as a flap which isselectively positionable into alignment with the remainder of the cardto provide a door for the package aperture. A film of thin flexibleplastic material is adhered to the face of the card along an interfacewhich circumscribes the aperture and the space to be occupied by theproduct. The portion of the film within the circumscribing interface isformed in a pocket of the contour of the object to be packaged in anovel manner which will be described in detail below.

One of the principal advantages of this invention resides in the factthat this pocket is formed of a thin flexible material. The pocket canbe flattened and the packages can then be packed in a container forshipment to a product manufacturer. Each package so shipped is anintegral unit ready for use. The product manufacturer need not assembleany elements to complete a package as with bubble packages. Further, thespace required to store the packages before use is minimized.

In packaging products, the manufacturer need only open the flap, insertthe product reforming the pocket outwardly to its original and moldedcontour, close the flap, and then secure the flap. The flap may besecured in a closed position by such a simple expedient as a small pieceof pressure sensitive tape or a label. The product manufacturer, then,can package its own products without specialized packaging equipment.

mold is either supported cantilever fashion or by a flexible hinge likestrap. In either event the. flap nests under th mold during the pocketforming operation.

One of the greatest practical advantages of this invention is that theinventory of the products to be packaged can be reduced. With priorpackaging techniques, it was important to package large groups ofproducts at one tim to obtain economies and efiiciencies. The presentpack age, on the other hand, readily lends itself well to both thepackaging of a few units at a time and to packaging large numbers ofunits with a completely automated packagaing line. If products arepackaged differently for different channels of distribution, they can bepackaged quickly and efficiently as orders are received as opposed tothe prior practice of prepacking relatively large numbers of units foreach channel of market distribution. Similarly, since there is no needto ship products to a custom packager, the inventory requirements arereduced. The ability to package in small quantities just prior toshipment is also very important in the case of products with poor shelflife. Such products can often not be run in large quantities and heldfor several weeks or months.

As the proceeding discussion suggests, the objects of this invention areto provide a novel and improved package, a method of package manufactureand an apparatus for such manufacture.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the improved platen of this inventionshowing a sheet of cards in the process of being positioned on theplaten;

FIGURE 2 is :a sectional view corresponding to FIG- URE 1 showing thesheet positioned on the platen, a film' of plastic above the platen, anda heater for softening the film;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the sheet being stripped from theplatens after the film has been secured to the card and stretched toform pockets;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a finished package;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the product beinginserted in the package; and,

FIGURES 6 through 8 are views of the finished packages, showing variousmeans of retaining the product in the package.

Referring now to the drawings, a platen is shown generally at 10. Theplaten 10 has a plurality of vacuum passages !11 which extend from avacuum chamber 12 to the upper face 13 of the platen 10. A manifold 14is secured to the lower wall of the platen'to define the vacuum chamber12. A vacuum source 15 is secured to the manifold 14 to provide therequired vacuum.

A plurality of molds 17 are connected to and form a part of the platen.Each of the molds 17 is contoured to the shape of the object to bepackaged. The molds 17 are supported more or less cantilver fashion bythe remainder of the platen 10. In the preferred and disclosedarrangement, this support takes the form of a plurality of thin,flexible hinge straps 18 each of which is secured to one end of one ofthe molds 17 and the platen.

In manufacturing packages in accordance with this invention, a stiffbacking sheet of card stock 20 is first provided. This backing sheet 20is die cut at spaced locations to form a plurality of product-receivingapertures 21. In each case the die cut is contoured to the shape of allor part of the product to be packaged. This cut or slit forms anaperture by cutting along all sides save one. The severed but stillconnected portions of the sheet provide a plurality of flaps 22. i

In preparing the sheet 20 for the formation of a package, the normalfirst step will be to print the card to provide decorative andinformative indicia on one or both faces of the sheet. Next, an adhesivemay be applied to those portions of the sheet which will be bonded tothe plastic film. After the adhesive is dried it will be perforated topermit the vacuum to operate on the film. If a film, such aspolyethylene is used which does not require an adhesive, these adhesiveapplication and perforation steps are eliminated.

The sheet 29 shown in FIGURE 1 has been printed and cut. Here the sheet20 is in the process of being positioned on the platen '16. Each of theflaps 22 has bee bent downwardly somewhat in order that one of the molds17 may pass through each of the product-receiving apertures 21. When thesheet '28 is fully positioned on the platen 19 it assumes the positionshown in FIGURES 2 and 3.

Here the molds 17 are each resting on top of the sheet 2t) primarily ifnot entirely on a corresponding one of th flaps 22. The card lie flat onthe upper face of the platen 16 with each of the straps 18 extendingthrough a corresponding slit defining a corresponding product-receivingapertures 21 and flap 22.

After the sheet 26, has been placed in the position shown in FIGURE 2 asheet of thermoplastic transparent and stretchable film 25 is positionedover the card and molds. The film 25 is softened by heaters 26 until itis in a suitably plastic condition. Next, the film 25 is draped over themolds and sheet and the vacuum is applied. The created pressuredifferential permits the ambient air pressure to press the heat softenedplastic film 25 down against the molds 17 and the sheet 2i). This bringsthe plastic film into tight bonding abutment with the entire face of thsheet 20 with the exception of those portions which are masked oif bythe molds 17. The film is drawn over the molds 17 to assume the contourof the object to be packaged and form a protective and encasing pocketfor the object.

After the film has cooled sufficiently so that the bond of the film tothe card is permanent and positive and so that the formed pockets havepermanently assumed the contour of the object to be packaged, the sheetand attached film are stripped from the mold. Next the sheet 20 andconnected film are cut into a plurality of individual package cards, oneof which is shown at 36*, in FIGURES 4 through 8.

The packages are then flattened, packed, and shipped to the productmanufacturer.

In packaging the product, a bottle designated by the numeral 35 in theexample shown in FIGURES 6 and 5, the product manufacturer first bendsthe flap 22 to the position shown in FIGURE 5. Next the product 35 isinserted through the aperture into the pocket causing the pocket toreassume its original and molded shape. Either simultaneously with thepressing of the product into the pocket, or thereafter, the flap 22 isbrought inwardly against the back of the product and fiush with theremainder of the card. Finally the flap 22 is secured in its closedposition as by attaching a piece of tape 36 to the back of the card 30.

A. finished package card 30 utilizing the advantages of this inventionmay take forms other than that previously described. The fiap 22 may beeliminated and the aperture can be closed in other manners. A piece oftape or a label may be positioned across the back of the aperture toretain the product therein. This is shown in FIGURE 7 where, as inFIGURE 8, the product is a roll of tape. Alternately, a card of thefold-over type may be used in which the card is folded on itself toclose the aperture, FIGURE 8. The folded portions 40, 41 are bondedtogether, at their interface, by a suitable adhesive. With thearrangements of FIGURES 7 and 8 additional strength is obtained becausethe aperture peripherally embraces and supports the product.

Whichever card is used, a package is obtained which is highly efiicientand simply to manufacture. Because the large sheet 2% is cut toindividual cards 3% after pockets are formed the cutting of the sheetand trimming of it are combined in a single operation. Further, theset-up time prior to forming pockets is greatly reduced since a numberof pockets are formed simultaneously on a single large sheet. Thus, itis not necessary to position each individual card accurately in thepocket forming machine. The skin packaging requirement of jigorientating each product on its associated card is eliminated. The moldsreadily and accurately become properly positioned relative to the sheetwhen the sheet is inserted in the platen.

While the invention has been described with a great deal of detail it isbelieved it comprises a package with a flexible pocket on a card and aproduct aperture in the card sized to accommodate the product to bepackaged. The invention also includes a novel and improved method andapparatus for making such a package.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by Way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to Withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

What is claimed is:

1. The process of forming packages with a platen having a plurality ofmolds secured thereto comprising, die cutting a sheet to provide aplurality of product-receiving apertures, passing each of the moldsthrough one of the apertures, bringing the sheet into flush abutmentwith the upper face of the platen with each such mold positioned toextend above the upwardly directed face of the card, heat softening aplastic film, creating a pressure differential to draw the film downover the molds and into bonding abutment with the face of the sheet, andthereafter stripping the sheet and the bonded film from the platen andmolds.

2. The process of forming packages with a platen having a plurality ofmolds ecured thereto comprising, die cutting a sheet to provide aplurality of product-receiving apertures and flaps for selectivelyclosing the apertures, passing each of the molds through one of theapertures wh'le simultaneously at least partially positioning each flapbeneath an associated mold, bringing the sheet into flush abutment withthe upper face of the platen'with each such mold positioned to extendabove the upwardly directed face of the sheet, heat softening a plasticfilm, creating a pressure differential to draw the film down over themolds and into bonding abutment with the face of the sheet, and

thereafter stripping the sheet and the bonded film from the platen andmolds.

3. The process of packaging a product comprising: (a) forming a packageaccording to the steps of claim (b) thereafter flattening a pocketformed by drawing the film over one of said molds; and

(c) reforming the pocket by passing a product through the card apertureinto the pocket.

4. In an apparatus for making packages including a platen having aplurality of passages extending to a top surface of the platen, andmeans for drawing air through the passages, the combination of, aplurality of molds secured to the platen in spaced relationship with oneanother, each of the molds being contoured to the shape of an object tobe packaged and means connecting molds to the platen with each mold inat least partially spaced relationship with the platen to provide aflap-receiving space between each mold and the platen.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the means connecting the mold to theplaten comprises a thin, flexible strap connected at one end to a moldand at the other end to the platen.

6. In an apparatus for making packages including a platen having aplurality of passages extending to a top surface of the platen, meansfor drawing air through the passages, the combination of, said platenincluding afiat surface adapted to receive a card, a plurality of moldssecured to the platen, each of the molds being contoured to the shape ofthe object to be packaged, and means connecting the molds to the platenwith the molds in spaced relationship with one another and projectingupwardly from said fiat surface to provide a plurality of positionedpocket defining molds.

'7. The device of claim 6 wherein the means connecting the mold to theplaten is flexible.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,861,404 11/58Stratton 53-22 2,861,405 11/58 Hanford 5322 2,874, 83 6 2/59 Wertepny20678 2,950,004 8/60 Acornb 20678 3,004,661 10/ 61 Schumann 206-783,025,952 3 62 Phipps 206-78 FOREIGN PATENTS 784,503 10/ 5 7 GreatBritain.

OTHER REFERENCES Trap-door Blister, an article in Modern Packaging,September 1957, page 119.

EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

ALEXANDER WYMAN, F. T. GARRETT, Examiners.

1. THE PROCESS OF FORMING PACKAGES WITH A PLATEN HAVING A PLURALITY OFMOLDS SECURED THERETO COMPRISING, DIE CUTTING A SHEET TO PROVIDE APLURALITY OF PRODUCT-RECEIVING APERTURES, PASSING EACH OF THE MOLDSTHROUGH ONE OF THE APERTURES, BRINGING THE SHEET INTO FLUSH ABUTMENTWITH THE UPPER FACE OF THE PLATEN WITH EACH SUCH MOLD POSITIONED TOEXTEND ABOVE THE UPWARDLY DIRECTED FACE OF THE CARD, HEAT SOFTENING APLASTIC FILM, CREATING A PRESSURE DIFFERENTIAL TO DRAW THE FILM DOWNOVER THE MOLDS AND INTO BONDING ABUTMENT WITH THE FACE OF THE SHEET, ANDTHEREAFTER STRIPPING THE SHEET AND THE BONDED FILM FROM THE PLATEN ANDMOLDS.